Quickly rate your landing page with these 11 checks

There’s no better way to speak directly to potential buyers and try to convince them to sign up for something — a download, an email series, a free consultation, a trial…

The best landing pages don’t try to oversell. They simply address the concerns they need to, and show that there’s value in signing up for whatever you’re offering.

But is your landing page good enough to do its job?

Put it to the Landing Page Test.

Ask these questions about your landing page

Does your landing page have a single purpose? If you’re trying to offer a white paper and invite someone to a webinar, you need to use two different pages. Most times you need to make sure that each landing page only offers one deal. (I can think of only one exception — where you’d offer something like an ebook and have a checkbox that said “Subscribe to our blog” or “Sign up for our newsletter”. You’d need to A/B test that, though, to make sure you weren’t hurting sign-ups by confusing readers.)

Is your call-to-action (CTA) clear and easy to spot? If you don’t spell out exactly what you want your visitor to do, chances are they won’t do it.

Does your landing page demonstrate social proof? Testimonials and reviews show that whatever you’re offering can be trusted. If that’s a product trial, pick two or three of your best reviews and showcase them on your landing page.If you’re offering some content and you’ve got actual reviews of the information, throw to those. (Bonus points if the testimonials are from names your target audience will recognize).

Is your page too wordy? If you can’t summarize your offer in a 30-second elevator pitch, you may have too much content on your landing page. Get to the point quickly.(Unless, of course, you need to take your time. A product with a substantial price tag, for example, will need a longer sales letter written to address buyers’ concerns.)

Have you A/B tested new ideas? If you want to get the best results, create similar pages and change a single variable, then drive traffic from the same demographic to both. The results can help you hone your technique and make your landing pages bullet-proof.

Have you included a video? Totally optional, of course, but explainer or product feature videos significantly increase the effectiveness of your landing pages. One study from Unbounce says videos increase conversion rates by 80%.

Does your headline match the ad? Don’t get lazy and use the same landing page for all your ads — customize a new one to match every ad campaign that brings potential clients to your site.

Does everything on the landing page serve the same purpose? Landing pages aren’t like regular web pages. You don’t need social sharing buttons, your top nav, links to the home page, and everything else.Only put what you need to on the page — and make sure that everything you add is there solely to help drive conversions.

Have you got a good photo? A landing page that shows people — especially people using your product — has a better chance of converting than one that is image-free.

Have you condensed content into lists or bullet-points? Writing for the web is all about scannability. Make your page so easy to read that potential clients don’t have time to get bored and bounce. There’s no point doing all this work if they don’t sign up for your offer.

Is there plenty of white space? People need to be able to easily skim your page and complete the sign-up.

It can take time — and skill — to create the perfect landing page. But by analyzing your pages and putting in the effort to ensure that they’re working as well as they can, you’ll find yourself with many more leads.